Contents

ABOUT

The Blue Rider’s Welcome

Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness.

About The Blue RiderI am bachelor graduate of Management Accounting. Yeah, I am an accountant by degree but I got bored and worked in a very dynamic - fast pacing industry, a BPO. I guess, being in this job gives me more flexibility to do the things I love to do : Traveling and Photography. I am no pro traveler nor photographer. When I travel, I take pictures and with these are memories that will forever be cherished.

You know the reasons why I travel? To seize life and live it as its bound to be. You will never know how things going to turn out. We can plan it, hope it, dream it! But what comes down to is this: Your life is made up of moments, some may be fleecy but all defining. Its what you do with these moments that sums up the whole of your life. Some of these moments will change who you are… forever!!!

I just wanted to fulfill a dream...a dream to travel as far as I can and be able to influence and inspire other people to do the same. Oh yeah, before I forget, you don't need to be a millionaire to be able to do this. You just need to have a bunch of adventurous spirit, curiosity, and perseverance and a little help from your paycheck. They always say, if there's a will, there's always a way. I don't see myself just sitting on a chair facing a computer and talking to people and just doing reports. I don't want to get bored. So I promised myself to live simply. WORK-LIFE Balance and live life as it's bound to be lived... TO THE FULLEST!

About the BLOG

XileXplores is just another outlet for me to share my thoughts and experiences while finding my real purpose in life. It's literally my last name + explore! I I am bound to live my life and not just be imprisoned in the four corners of my house or work. This blog contains my travel tales, my adventures and mis-adventures on how to go about creating a balance between a stressful work and a relaxed life. This journal will also help you see places I’ve been to and at the same time will give you ideas on how to get there affordably. I always believe that we are all entitled to travel our land and that would mean expense, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to shell out a lifetime to get to places you desire. All it takes is a little initiative to plan and smart moves to materialize it. Random thoughts about living and traveling and to just simply have some fun. We only live once, so we need to make sure that we are doing things we love and passionate about. I intend to share this life changing journey I have to rest of the world. I will continue to explore the world and discover new things that can help me grow and understand the culture. As what I always say, Life is meant to be lived, not to be watched.

HOW DID IT ALL START?You will not understand it unless you also love to travel and break free. Call me cynical, but I will bet my last peso that we’re not on the same page unless we have the same passion. Some people see it as absurd, as a waste of time, but I guess those who felt the need to wander will disagree.A decade ago, I simply enjoyed local spots, hotels and resorts within the city with my friends, parents and relatives. Back then, I travel to just go and have fun. No responsibilities. Nothing in mind but fun.Several years passed, my reason for traveling apparently evolved. I’d like to think it comes not with the volume of places I’ve been to but with maturity. I still like the idea of having and sharing short vacation in different places with family, friends and people who matters to me. Nothing beats the happiness seeing the people you love delight in the things you see and experience. Together you dine and appreciate discovering things. Chance and time allowed me to do solo traveling that challenged me to become less dependent and be more responsible. While being vulnerable to a lot of things, I revel each time I laugh at my mistakes whenever I took the wrong route or during times when language barrier gets in the way. I found myself constantly craving to experience new ground, to taste new dishes that are unusual to my palates, to learn beyond Geography and Social Science Books (which I wouldn’t deny I reference to a lot) by meeting persons native to a place, and being in places inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, to celebrate adventures via either planned or spontaneous journeys, to know more about myself while exploring the world.Traveling taught me to become more patient and more thankful. It made me feel more alive!WANDERLUST AND BUCKET LIST. Needless to say, I have strong desire to wander and to be in places on my bucket list. I lust and love traveling. Europe, Africa and South America on my mind. However, shame on me as I haven’t been to most provinces in my own country and a long list of regions in Asia to set foot on. Those are on my list too.WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE WITH TRAVELING? It gives you opportunities to see God’s creations. Healthier than a shot of vodka, a bottle of beer or a dose of sleeping pill, planning for the next trip and traveling are so therapeutic that it heals emotional, physical and psychological burdens. Best of all, it lets you create memories to cherish and treasure forever. Traveling is a love that many people share. It enables us to experience nature at it’s finest first-hand, enjoy mind-relaxing or adrenaline-pumping activities, and see everything we knew in another light, or simply, MEET NEW PEOPLE – which all in turn, give us different stories to tell.It is hard to restrict the list to just few things, needless to say, I just need a rundown of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see. Our world is truly magnificent and we each occupy just a tiny fragment of it. Travel is a privilege and one of our greatest treasures, and we all should have a travel bucket list. It broadens our minds and feeds our souls, and who wouldn’t want to experience something wondrous or incredibly beautiful, whether made by man or Mother Nature?

I dream of traveling around the Philippines, yes the amazing 81 provinces. This thought maybe a bit impossible if you just think about it, but I already started traveling and this is feasible. Even those places you think a bit dangerous is included in my bucket list ^_^. There's this small voice inside me telling that I can achieve this goal. I may not be that rich to make this dream happen in an instant but my passion to succeed and fulfill my ultimate goal will eventually get me there.

I wanted the world to know how lucky I am for being able to take that first step in discovering how wonderful life can be. Start conquering your fears and unleash that explorer in you. Life is too short to just be wasted.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover - Mark Twain

Hope you will enjoy my journal as I share with you all my travels might be in a group but most of the time, solo-flighted.